BUS tycoon Brian Souter has revealed how he avoided losing millions in the banking collapse thanks to a moneyman he compares to prophet John the Baptist.

The multi-millionaire Stagecoach founder, a committed Christian, made the remarks about financier Colin McLean after being asked to deliver a sermon in church.

Souter, who shares an estimated £730million fortune with his sister Ann Gloag, said McLean had succeeded where the bosses of the major banks had failed in seeing the 2008 collapse coming.

McLean, founder of investment group Scottish Value Trust, advised Souter not to invest in banks at a time when many of his associates were ploughing in millions.

Souter, 59, said: “In early 2008, I went to the Bank of Scotland and I met Peter Cummings who was running the bank at that time.

“I said to him, ‘Peter, what’s going on with the banking business? There seems to be a lot of problems.’

“He said, ‘Oh, there’s nothing to worry about, we’re going to make tonnes of money this year again. In fact, it’s a great opportunity to buy some cheap stock.’

“Later in the year, I got into conversation with Colin McLean about it.

“He told me, ‘The banks don’t understand their own balance sheets, they don’t have any idea about the problems they are facing. There’s going to be a liquidity crisis and the Scottish banks will probably not be here in 12 months time.’

“He didn’t claim to have the gift of prophecy but that was prophetic.

“After that, I thought, I’m not going to buy any more bank shares.”

Finance wizard McLean co-founded Scottish Value Management in 1990 and still works at the firm’s base in Edinburgh.

He and his wife Margaret launched the business with co-founder Donald Robertson.

The father-of-five, who studied at Glasgow University, handles funds of millions of pounds for investors and pension groups.

Souter told the church group that McLean’s advice had saved him a lot of money.

Colin McLean of Scottish Value Trust.

He added: “Most of my friends filled their boots with the banks and lost an absolute fortune.

“I wish I had taken more cognisance of what he [McLean] said and sold the stock I had, but I didn’t have the courage to do that.

“I had been to meetings where the governor of the Bank of England was the guest of honour but Colin was the only person I met before the crash that actually could see there was a real problem facing us.

“John the Baptist was a bit like that.”

Souter had been invited to speak at the Destiny Church, an independent evangelical organisation, by Pastor Andrew Owen. His speech from the church in Shawlands, Glasgow, last Sunday was streamed live on the internet.

Rev Dr Doug Gay, a lecturer in practical theology at Glasgow University, said: “When John the Baptist appears in the New Testament, the Gospel writers associate him with a quote from the prophet Isaiah, who speaks about a voice crying in the wilderness.

“I think this is probably the central thing that Souter is using for a comparison. It is probably the idea that McLean is a voice crying in the wilderness.

“It is a kind of proverbial thing that is often used by writers or commentators.

“You have this idea that there is this voice saying, ‘Get ready for what is about to happen.’

“John the Baptist is also the one who announces Jesus’s arrival, so comparing someone to him can be seen as saying, ‘Here is the guy you have to listen to.’

“John is depicted in religious art often with a finger pointing towards Jesus. John is the one who is pointing the way.

“It is not a satirical comparison – it is simply saying, ‘Here is the voice in the wilderness. Here is someone who sees something which no one else sees.’”

Souter also told the Destiny Church congregation how he was once probed by police for keeping petrol in a plastic container.

He said: “I used to live in Parkhead and it was quite a wild place. I had an old car and the petrol leaked out of it so I used to keep petrol in a plastic can which I had in the house – which is completely illegal.

“I had a friend round and said I would give him a lift home because it was a terrible night outside.

“I was going back and forward putting fuel into this old car when two policemen came around the corner.

“One had scrambled egg all over his hat, a really important guy, and the other one was the apprentice.

“The apprentice asked if it was my car. I said it would be pretty stupid to put petrol in somebody else’s car.

“My friend said to them, ‘See the wee man, he’s generous to a fault. He comes down here every night and fills his neighbours’ cars up with petrol.’